Aston Villa v Newcastle: Match Preview, Team News, Prediction
- Feb 14
- 2 min read
An all-Premier League tie in the fourth round of the FA Cup takes centre stage at Villa Park on Saturday evening at 17.45pm, as Aston Villa play host to Newcastle United.
Match Preview
Eddie Howe and the team are fresh from a 2-1 win at Spurs which will have meant a far better atmosphere around the training ground this week and Eddie was back to his usual confident and decisive self in yesterday's press conference.
Newcastle go up against a team that beat us 2-0 just three weeks ago at SJP after which they lost at home to a ten man Brentford team and drew away to Bournemouth. Villa got back to winning ways on Wednesday at home to Brighton but only care of an 88th minute own goal.
With this being the best chance for both teams to win a trophy this season the two sides will be going all out for a win and I'm expecting an open attacking game.
Team News
Newcastle will be without Tino Livramento, Emile Krafth, Fabian Schar, Lewis Miley, Bruno and Joelinton.
That means Trippier will have to start again at RB with the only other option being Jacob Murphy if Eddie decide Trippier needs a rest. If Lewis Hall plays Eddie has a decision to make on whether Burn is on the bench, replaces Thiaw or Botman, or plays in a back five.
Ramsdale may also start in goal.
The midfield three pick themselves with Ramsey, Tonali and Willock being the only options. In attack Wissa or Woltemade may start along with two of our four wingers.
For Aston Villa Youri Tielemans, John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara, and Andres Garcia will all miss the game.
Prediction
Like Newcastle, Aston Villa are without first choice midfield players and this may be the Magpies best chance of getting a result.
Willock and Ramsey had excellent games against Spurs and if that form is repeated and Tonali puts in a performance this may not be the home win that some are expecting.
Ramsey especially will be well motivated playing against his former team and buoyed by his first goal for the Toon - and a cracker it was - against Spurs.
Talking of goals, we are overdue one from Wissa and especially Woltemade who hasn't scored in our last thirteen games. If Eddie starts with either over Gordon - or could he surprise us and start with both - they need to be a bigger threat than of late.
I think this will be an open attacking game where both teams will score.
So, I'm expecting a draw in normal time and Newcastle to win on penalties.
Having said that, it wouldn't surprise me if the Toon win over 90 minutes so my usual fiver is going on Newcastle to win 2-1.
Work that prediction out!
PS. Don't forget to enter Eddie's Bingo.
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Toon Beat 13 Man Aston Villa
I just wonder if our some of our players are changing positions as eddie and the coaches have seen something we dont see.
Ive already mentioned gordon and woltemade possibly becoming more like a central striker and CM respectively. They are not the only positional changes though. Harvey barnes has played more right than left and is showing he can be effective on both sides. Joe willock looks more like a winger than a CM and has played more on the left and right wings than as an 8 as he used to play regularly. Jacob ramsey was a LM /attacking midfield hybrid at villa. He doesnt play that way at all at newcastle generally. He's more of an…
Apparently woltemade has been retraining as a central midfielder according to howe via the chronicle. So it looks like we could well be doing another joelinton from the bundesliga. Joelinton was never a striker itself . He was a supporting forward in a front 3 who occasionaly played central. As we know he became a LCM/LW hybrid. Is woltemade about to turn into a zidane / ibrahimovic type hybrid in terms of style. Someone that's not fully a striker , 10 or a CM. A free role hybrid of the 3? Woltemade is very much a work in progress but he looked half decent deeper in midfield yesterday . When i saw the line up i initally thoug…
69 goals in 41 matches. We have at least another 15 to play. Will we make it a 100 ?
Our goalscorers in order.
Barnes 12/40
Gordon 10/35
Woltemade 10/38
Bruno 9/35
Joelinton 5/29
Thiaw 4/38
Wissa 3/18
Osula 3/19
Miley 3/30
Murphy 2/30
Tonali 2/39
Schar 1/21
Willock 1/25
Botman 1/25
Ramsey 1/28
Burn 1/28
Elanga 1/35
31 more goals to make it a 100.
If we beat quarabag as expected over 2 legs . March all the sudden looks like this.
4 man u H
7 or 8th / 3 FA cup 5th round
9-11th / champions league last 16
14th chelsea A
16th-18th champions league leg 2
22nd sunderland H
International break follows.
So basically if we beat quarabag , we have another 10 games to play in the next 5 weeks before the squad gets a break from club football . How much of a break depends on the fa cup . If we are in the quarters we get roughly a fortnight. If not and we are in the champions league still its approximately 16 or 17 days. Out of b…